BM : Roadmasters - "Exodus Return,Pt.1"
by Stephen R Sobotka
Summary: In an alternate time, The Maximals battle Megatron for Cybertron...but, an unexpected twist has just arrived!


**_BEAST MACHINES : ROADMASTERS_**

"_Exodus Return, Part 1_"  
A Story by Stephen R. Sobotka, Jr.

#

Disclaimer : This story is based on situations & characters from the animated series "Beast Machines : Transformers". It was produced to entertain fans of the original show, and is in no way, shape or form intended to be published for monetary gain. Please do not sue.

Certain characters within are property of Hasbro Inc. and appear here without acknowledgment or consent of same. The characters of Ironhorse, Blancwulf, Pantera, Inaurai, Baretta, Stormrave, Braddore and others numerous to mention are owned by their specific creators from the Beast Wars/Beast Machines Online RPG Forum. All other characters – chiefly Maximum Prime, Alegra, Rav, Halftrak, Sabre, Darter and Rampage II are the rightful property of the author, and are protected by copyright law.

Author's Note : This is the fictionalized version of the RPG thread "An Unexpected Return" from the BW/BM RPG Forum. Due to space and limits on character handling, some of the characters and events that appeared in that thread do no appear here. As a writer, I had to exercise a little "creative license" from time to time. Enjoy the story! J

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_~ Long ago, in the depths of space, a world called _**_Cybertron_**_ existedit was a world filled with intelligent robots, who could think and feel like humans. The world was populated by two factions: _**_Autobots_**_ and _**_Decepticons_**_. In time, the power-hungry Decepticons made war on the peace loving Autobots, and their battles drained the planet of it's once-rich sources of energy_

_In the end after the wars between them plunged the Cybertronians to the far reaches of space – including the planet Earth – the Autobots won the battle for Cybertron aver the Decepticons. In the years to follow, their descendants continued the legacy of law and order, eventually becoming the _**_Maximals_**_. But the Decepticons had their descendants too, known as the _**_Predacons_**_. Eventually, the wars between good and evil started once more, this time with the Maximals defending Cybertron from the vicious Predacons_

_However, due to an incident involving a transwarp slip through time, a Predacon named _**_Megatron_**_ managed to return to Cybertron, and used his power to take over and purge the planet of every living Transformer. Left alone, the surviving Maximals battled on, thanks to _**_techno-organic_**_ bodies given to them by the _**_Oracle_**_. But Megatron, reprogramming the sparks of former allies and foes, created new Transformers called _**_Vehicons_**_._

_The battles continued to rage on, with neither side gaining ground against the other. _

**_Until today_**_ ~_

#

**Exodus Return, Pt. 1**

###

**::Planet Cybertron, Present Time Cycle::**

Deep in the caverns of the artificial jungle called Cybertropolis, one would've expected a metallic call of the wild

BOOM!!!

"Take cover, bots! We've got Vehicon-troubles at twelve-o'clock high!"

As the sounds of twin engines howled along the narrow canyon, a small group of figures bolted for what little cover they could find. A hairsbreath later, bolts of white energy rained down among them, sending up liquidy blossoms of explosive death as the source of those bolts screamed overhead, winging away into the open sky.

Skidding to a stop, a thin legged creature that might have been an old Earth cheetah and a dark-colored form that might be a jaguar looked up at the departing flyer. Growling, the dark one snarled in a decisively feminine voice, "Slag it! That airborne looser found us againbut how!?"

From behind the two, a peeved, snippy voice replied, "Eh, don't look at me! We've all been stuck in beast mode since we left the others to watch Optimus!"

Another speaker, sounding slightly unsure of herself, admitted, "Wellhe could have just gotten lucky, right? I meanwe have been fighting against them for quite some time. Maybe they've just gotten better at spotting us."

"Oh sure! Ever since we had to link up with you and cat-lady," the third voice groused, "they've had plenty of chances to practice. What with you galavantin' all over the surface all the time!"

"Lay off, mouse-boy," the second voice snapped, a warning growl following. "If you and the others weren't so squeamish sometimes about coming up for air--."

The first speaker rumbled, "Arguing like this doesn't help us now. We've got to find some cover before Jetstorm gets back."

"Or at least find an escape route," the second voice reasoned. The jaguar turned to eyeball the third speaker. "Well?"

"You heard her, Rat Trap. Get us a path out of here. Preferably somewhere nice and quiet."

The other speaker emerged from a small overhang, revealed to be a large brown rat with strange, metallic markings on his sides. "No prolem-o, o' fearless leader! One egress to safetycoming up." With that, the rat scuttled towards a spot along the far wall of the canyon, scrabbling around in the shadows for what felt like an eternity.

"Come on, get moving!" The first speaker looked skyward with apprehension. "Jetstorm could be back with a full brigade of Aerodrones in any nano!"

"Ah, pipe down, kid!" More scratching sounds echoed along the walls, before a loud CLANK followed shortly thereafter. "Bingo! The rat's head poked out of the dark, followed by one paw that motioned the others to come over. "Everyone step this way for All-Parts-Quiet' and Maximal Central'Well, you wanted to hurry things along, kid?!"

"Good work, Stinker," said the second speaker. Suddenly, she tensed up as her ears picked up the faint sound of an approaching jet engine. "Get moving. Cheetor, Inuaraifollow him. I'll be right behind you."

The first speaker hesitated. "What about you!? You can't face Jetstorm alone!"

"I'll be fine, Kitten, but you won't if I have to kick your skidplate back to the base," the second speaker snarled. "So, get in there! Go!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" The fourth speaker darted forward – looking like a bio-mechanical version of an Earth wolf – bounding into the shadow before disappearing from sight.

"C'mon, Kid! Tera's a big girl. She can handle herself," the rat said snidely. "For once I agree with her. She can deal with that flying chunk of slag-for-brains" With that, he too vanished from sight.

Cheetor looked at her one more time. "Justbe careful, elder." He leaped into the darkness, his spotted-yellow fur quickly getting swallowed up by the blackness.

Turning around, the sleek jaguar looked up, baring her fangs as she spied the returning flyer; now accompanied by a small phalanx of smaller, lighter-colored drones. "I always am, KittenPantera, _Opnugate_!" With a roar, the jaguar suddenly glowed with a bright blue light and, looking like a living piece of techno-organic origami, she shifted here, folded there, and expanded in places that looked as uncomfortable as they were complex. In a twinkling though, a new form stood there on metal-clad legs: it was black and crome, with a twitching tale and feline features from the jaguar. However, there were humanoid features as well, along with curves that made the former Maximal definitely look female.

"All right," Pantera said aloud, extending her arms to allow a pair of wicked looking batons to appear, "let's rumble, General!" Another spray of laser fire raked the canyon floor, forcing Pantera to roll out of harm's way.

"Well, Helloooo, Kitty! Nice of you to come out and PLAY," cackled Jetstorm. The lead Vehicon jet whipped around in a fast turn, leaving his less-responsive drones scrambling to follow in his wake.

Pantera got back to her feet, snarling under her breath. "Why don't you come down here, lil' birdie!? Make it a fair fight!"

"Ah, ah, hah! I'm as free as any bird now, Maximal," Jetstorm sneered. "But, this bird IS due for a change!" With that, the dark blue fighter shifted and folded in on itself, becoming a floating, legless figure that turned its skull-face towards Pantera with a leer. "Nowlet's see what a Maximal looks like from the inside-OUT!" Twin cannons popped up from his shoulders, barking as they sent more rounds of laser fire down towards the Maximal below.

Pantera held her ground, whipping her batons out to twirl them in front of her. Shots that would have struck home deflected off of the energy beams, sailing off to score the sides of the canyon walls.

Jetstorm stopped firing, one eyebrow raised in sardonic amazement. "Well, well looks like you can teach an old cat new tricks"

"Here's one for you, _General_," Pantera growled. In a flash, she leaped towards one wall, digging her toe-claws in for support as she took three pumping strides to scale it. As she finished the last one, her legs bunched up and lengthened, sending her flying through the air towards the surprised Vehicon. Sailing close to him, the dark-colored female lashed out with her batons, smashing them across his chest with a cascade of sparks.

"YEAGH!" Jetstorm found himself spinning away, stars sparking in front of his optics as he slammed into the closest vertical surface. With a groan, he slid down the wall and landed in a pile of sparking, quivering parts.

Landing nimbly, Pantera smiled in grim satisfaction. A glance upward showed that the smaller drone-jets were hovering in a holding pattern, unable to do anything without orders coming from their general' Snapping her batons back into rest mode, she took a moment to run her clawed fingers through the short-crop of black hair on her head. "Nice to get a little exercise once in a while" Taking a couple of steps, she felt a twinge in her left hip. "Ow! As old as I am, I need all the help I can get!" With that, she shifted back into beast-mode – mecha-morphing amid another flash of light – and headed into the shadows to rejoin the others.

###

Somewhere in space far above, while the dawning of a new day on Cybertron continues, something unexpected appeareda small area of local-space twitchedrippling slightly, like you'd see if a small pebble had been tossed into a still pond.

As seconds passed, the ripples grew larger and more frequentdistorting the very fabric of space above Cybertron. Then, with a sudden flash of light, localspace parted like the curling petals of a iris portal, revealing a glowing nimbus of energy beyond. This unforeseen phenomenon lingered for a cycle more, before something burst through it; trailing contrails of energy as it barreled onward into the orbital lanes above the planet. A split-click later, the portal folded in on itself and vanished, leaving not a hint or trace of it ever being there.

The object that appeared rumbled to a slowing position, firing thrusters to ease itself into one of the descending traffic lanes. It was an old starship. An obviously serviceable ship, but still something much older and boxy-looking than the sheer, functional designs of the last solar-century. If there had been anyone in orbit at that time to observe its arrival, two things would have been immediately clear: one, this ship was familiar to Cybertron, or else it wouldn't have known where to go to head for the surface of the planet

Two, even though it was faded with age, the ship bore a clear representation on its hull that marked whom it belonged tothe Autobots.

#

**::Aboard the ****_Iacon's Pride_****::**

In the semi-darkness of the bridge, a lone Cybertronian looked up from his display console. "Maintaining course and speedno sign of any of the orbital assets."

Behind him, seated at the Commander's chair, a taller male designate rubbed the fingers of one hand across his chin. "That's strange. We should be seeing elements of the Elder's Fleet by now."

A gravely-sounding voice from the port side of the bridge commented, "Hmph considering how long we've been away, it's a wonder we'll see any of the Fleet around Cybertron."

"But there's always a presence of the Old Fleet around Cybertron," said a fourth voice, sounding feminine and husky at the same time. "The Council wouldn't order them away and leave the planet defenseless."

"Who knows what's in the mind of the Council," the leader muttered. "Still, no matter where the Fleet is, we're finally back where we belong. So let's secure from space and get our prisoner groundside."

"Speaking of which," another female voice announced, it's owner just coming onto the bridge, "I just checked on him down in the brig."

Turning around, the leader asked, "Is he still locked down?"

"Tighter than a o-ring gasket." The second female sighed languorously. "He was still in stasis lock, snoozing quite peacefully the last time I looked at the monitors."

"I'll be glad to hand him over to the prison authorities," the pilot snarled. "Chasing him down and hauling his slaggin' carcass--."

"Was your duty to perform," the leader remarked, sounding like he'd been through this before. "Which isn't over until we get groundside. So, unless you want us to just hold orbit here?"

"Aye-aye, Leader." The pilot turned around, and started accessing the controls. "Auto-helm offline, switching to manual. Beginning descent into approach lane"

The soldier turned to face the second, "Don't you think you'd better alert the Port Authority, Junior? I'd think they'd want to be prepared for us when we land."

"Right, old soldier," the leader replied. Clearing his throat, he motioned to the operations technician. "Open communications."

The female designate slid into the command chair for the communications array, flipping a few toggles before replying, "Main channel open, Leader."

The leader flipped out a transmitter pickup from the armrest on his chair, pausing before speaking: "Attention Starport Control... This is **_Iacon's Pride_**, at outer boundary Beta-Prime. Please acknowledge."

Nothing replied.

"That's oddPort Authority is always quick to respond to hails," murmured the sensor tech.

The old soldier designate scoffed. "Maybe some young tower jockey's on a lunch break?"

"Let's try this again, but keep us on a descent path." The leader re-keyed his pick-up. "I say again, this is **_Iacon's Pride_**... to any Starport Control Officer, please respond. This is a Priority-One Alert. We are a Warden Transport, and have a prisoner on board for immediate transfer to Level-1 Security. Please reply, over?"

Just then, something akin to a slight rumble vibrated along the spaceframe of the ship.

"What was that?" The ops-tech snapped her head around, looking about in alarm.

The pilot released the controls for a second. "Something isnot right here"

"Explain," asked the commander. Before he got his reply, the rumbling suddenly increased quickly by a thousand-fold. Forced to grab onto something, the five occupants heard the whining-groan of metal pressed beyond all stress tolerancesjust before another rumble – from a massive explosion – rocked the ship harder.

"Slag!" The pilot snatched at the controls, wrenching them around. "Controls are damaged! No lateral control response!"

"Something's hit the engine section," the sensor tech reported. "No, wait! The damage came from the _inside out_?!" Her eyes darted towards another readout. "We're losing power to the inertia stabilization field, the retro-thruster banks and both lateral and vertical control grids."

"Switch to auxiliaries," The leader prompted. "Activate Emergency Arrestor Fields around the bridge and the brig."

"Done," the soldier reported. "Fraggin' hell! The activation computer on the brig isn't responding." Bolting from his seat, the older designate shouted, "I'll head down and trip the manual control."

The leader turned around to follow the elder's movement towards the doors. "Wait!"

"Don't worry about me! Just get this ship down in one piece!" With that, the soldier slipped through the doors and vanished from sight.

Suddenly, the ship bucked like it had been kicked, shuddering as it listed to one side. A half-click later, its nose pointed down towards the surface of the planet, the rest of the ship following behind, smoking and sparking from the fires burning aft.

"Blast it! All rightlet's not waste time," the leader said, turning back to face the main viewscreen. "More power to the auxiliaries. Try to get us on an emergency path to a clear zone."

Struggling with the controls, the pilot grunted, "Idon't thinkI cangive you that"

"You'll have to try. We can't allow the ship to crash into a populated sector!" Flipping the pick-up back on, the leader barked out, "Mayday! Mayday! This is **_Iacon's Pride_**, declaring an emergency! We've lost lateral control, and our steering and thrusters! Auxiliaries are not responding!"

The sensor tech checked a navigational readout next to her, hissing in a breath. "If we don't pull out of this, we're going to crash right into the Trion-Sigma section of the Upper Hemisphere Quadrant."

The leader lifted a metal fist and slammed it against his armrest. "Attention! All local CD Teams in Sector Trion-Sigma...this is a Class-1 Alert! Crash landing is immanent!!!"

###

**::Cruising the Streets Below, Cybertropolis::**

The rumble of an engine reverberated along a half-tunnel, resolving into the revved-up sound of a high-performance sports-car out to break a few speed limits.

Emerging from the tunnel, a bright red speedster – bearing the gear-&-flywheel sigil of the Vehicons – shot down the open street, paying little attention to where it was going. In truth, the mechanical warrior within had only one thought running through its logic center

"Maxiesgotta slag some Maxies" Beretta loved her work! Being one of the lesser Vehicon Generals wasn't too much of a much for her. She was quite willing to let the others take charge. So long as she got ample opportunities to fight, she stayed one happy Transformer.

Just then, she noticed the soundthe rumble of something BIG passing overhead. Panning her optics upward, she nearly jammed her brakes to the fullstop in shock, watching as the stricken ship sailed overhead, heading towards the surface in an obvious crash-trajectory.

"What the slottin' SLAG is THAT???" Watching the ship for a few clicks more, the souped-up Vehicon weighed her options: "Megatron would need to hear about this" If her front grille had and motility, it would have curled upward into a evil grin. "Why not check this out and slag some Maxies in the bargain!? That'd really impress Megatron!" Gunning her accelerator, Baretta shot forward into the night, taking an off-ramp that guided her more or less towards the probable landing site of the doomed ship

#

From a location atop a smaller building in the sea of skyscrapers and towers, another pair of optics observed the fallen ship dispassionately. Focusing slightly, the owner of those eyes took in the ships name and sigil on the bow, and snorted softly.

"Oh, goodieAutobots. Make my day" With a whisper of sound, the air seemed to drift apart, revealing by degrees the stolid form of a winged, gray horse with a golden horn in its forehead. It motioned towards its flank, triggering a comm-link. "Ironhorse to Maximal Baseguess what?"

"Pantera, here. What's up, Ritter?"

"We've got company. A ship just entered Cybertron's atmospherean old Autobot ship. It looks like it's going to crash. Those who care may want to investigate it. Ironhorse out." With that, the horse construct looked at the rapidly descending ship once more, then, with another silent hiss of sound, he faded away into nothingness

###

**::Aboard the ****_Iacon's Pride_****::**

Another blast rocked the spaceframe, sending the ship into a slow spin along her long axis.

"Blast! We lost the auxiliaries!" the pilot shouted.

"Get her back on an even keel," the leader ordered, "or she'll never survive the landing. Rav! Switch all available power to helm control."

"Working," the sensor tech grunted, trying to keep her place at her terminal. "It's not going to be enough!"

"It better be, or we're all s-slagged." The pilot snapped, slamming the controls in the opposite direction of the spin. Through the viewport, a scene of quick-moving buildings advanced towards them and moved aft, disappearing from view. Slowly, the ship started to right itself, but one side clipped a tall bridge span. Shaken again, the ship lurched like a drunkard, caroming off the side of another building. "I can't h-hold her, Prime!"

"Kid! I'm on my way back from the brig level! Arrestor fields in place!"

"Hurry up, old soldier. We can't keep this tub airborne for much longer!" Another building loomed close, ending up sideswiped as the ship slammed into it. "SLAG!"

The pilot blurted out, "That's it! Negative helm control!"

"All hands, brace for impact," the leader said, wrestling his voice back into a semi-calm state. Keying the pick-up again, he managed to say, "Mayday! Mayday! Anyone listening, we're about to hit, Sector--!"

The ship rocketed into another building; this one ending up cut in two by the force of the ship's passing, kicking up a fine display of pyrotechnics and destruction. Amid the shriek of air passing over jagged metal, the ship finally touched down with a resonating CRASH!, which made even the very deepest parts of the sector tremble. Sliding along for several meters, the ship continued to cause mass destruction to anything in its path

until, at last, it came to a rumbling stop against a built up pile of debris, somewhere near the outskirts of the sector.

As the ship settled amid the crackle of broken conduits, and the hiss of escaping gases and steam, All seemed silent inside. Then, a small hatch just above the bridge opened up, allowing a powered array to emerge from inside. As soon as it cleared the hull, the array started flashingsending out a coded locator signal to any Autobot Recovery teams in the area.

But, no other Autbots responded to the call

###

**::The Maximal Base, A Moment Before ::**

As the Maximals crossed the threshold into their hidden base, Pantera received the transmission from Ironhorse. Pausing, she looked towards the ceiling of the hidden chamber with a questioning expression on her feline face.

"Say again, Ritter? That last send didn't sound right," she said hesitantly. "You saidan Autobot ship!?"

"Autobots? What's going on up there," Cheetor asked.

Rattrap snorted, "Eh, old horseface must have, eh, dropped out of sight one too many times." Just then, the shockwaves of the crash raced through the flooring beneath them all, sending them all a-quiver as the vibrations shook the grove of techno-organic trees around them.

"WHOA!" Inuarai nearly leaped out of her fur, dancing around on her paws to keep herself moving around, lest something fall on her. "What in all of Cybertron was that!?"

A winged, furry form swooped down from the ceiling. "Whatever it was, it sounded major! Big time vibrations!"

Cheetor looked up at Nightscream. "What could it have been? Megatron?"

Pantera shook her head. "Not unless Megs has sunk down to using nukes to find us."

Inuarai shuddered.

"Even for cold-hearted chunk of slag like Megatron, that's low," Rattrap commented.

"Rattraphas a point." From behind the group, a large, muscular shape detached itself from one of the trees, swinging down to land next to the others. Looking like a hard-wired gorilla, the being slowly sauntered up to the head of the group and stopped.

"Primal," Pantera said evenly, "I wouldn't put it past Megs to do something like that. After all, he could be very well in control of Cybertron's nuclear stockpile."

"Megatron wants to turn the planet into his ideal of a will-free worldnot a nuclear wasteland," Optimus Primal said at length. "Whatever that was, it has to be something else."

"So, likeeh, what's the plan, boss-monkey?" Rattrap looked decisively uneasy about what was to come.

"Right now, we'll send out a team to investigate and make our decisions from there. Pantera, Inuarai," Primal said, looking at the two newcomers, "head towards the surface and locate whatever is up there. Recon check only, but if someone needs our helpyou know what to do."

The black jaguar nodded. "Right."

"Contact Ironhorse andhim, if you need back up."

"Understood, Primal." The jaguar turned to look at the smaller wolfling. "Come on, let's get tracking. Nari."

"Sounds good to me," Inuarai sniffed. Together, the two Maximals turned and headed back the way they came.

As soon as they were out of sight, Cheetor looked at Primal. "Was that a good idea? Just sending them out there alone?"

"Pantera and Inuarai have the most experience of running alone on topside," Primal explained. "I'm confident they can handle themselves well enough."

Nightscream queried, "Butwithout any backup?"

"Eh, those two don't need backup. Besides, we've got others out there they can call onunless you count our benevolent horseface and that former Air Commander" sniped Rattrap. "They're about as trustworthy as a nickle-plated carbine in a sludge-pit!"

Primal looked displeased. "Ironhorse currently works with us because the alternative isn't viable at this time. As forwell, Pantera has him under control for now. Best we can hope for is that he'll come around to our ways, sooner or later." Sighing, Primal motioned everyone to come further in. "However, Blancwulf and Stormrave are out there. If Pantera needs it, she can call for any of them or us to help out. In the mean time, I've got some news from the Oracle"

###

**::The Crash Site of the ****_Iacon's Pride_**** ::**

Amid the smoking wreck, nothing stirred.

However, something was stirring – more like charging – towards the wreck at high speeds.

In an eye-blink, Baretta emerged from the metal & concrete jungle of Cybertropolis, squealing to a stop next to the huge bulk of the downed ship. With a shift of metal, she extended two missile launchers from her chasis; one on either side of her hood.

"Hey! You in THERE! YOU MAXIMALS??"

There was no reply. Just another hiss as more mist leaked out from between two hullplates.

"If there's any Maxies in therethey're either hurt, hiding or both," Baretta reasoned to herself. "That makes them fair game! ROBOT MODE!" A shifting, twisting second later, she stood there in her alternate form; a female robot with a bird head and wings. Drawing out a heavy laser cannon, she grinned to herself before stalking towards the ship.

Coming up to the hull, she scanned it for an access hatch. Finding none, her footsteps took her alongside the hull for a spell, before she found a large break in the hullmetal plate.

"Slaggin' great! Don't even have to knock!" Stepping through, she tapped a portion of her chest plate, activating a pair of lights on her shoulders. Panning the beams around, she found herself inside a long corridorone that appeared to stretch the entire length of the ship. Looking up, she noted the height of the ceiling above herand paused.

"Whoa?! That's a slottin' high roof!" She turned and looked down both ways, trying to decide where to go

C-cl-CLANK!

Whipping around, she aimed her lights and weapon down the corridor. "Who's there!?"

The sound – something decidedly metallic – continued to echo down the hall. Something, who knew what, sounded like it was trying to get out of this place

###

From a place leading out from the underground, Pantera and Inuarai emerged, looking around until they spied the rising column of smoke from the crash site.

"There," Pantera said pointedly. "Looks like an explosion or fire, all right."

Inuarai couched her ears in worry. "Could Megatron really have touched off a nuke?"

"Idon't think so, Nari," Pantera said, smiling to unnerve her companion. "Otherwise, I'm sure there'd be radiation signs all over the place." Keying he comm-link, Pantera called out, "Ironhorse, come in. We need some information. What happened again, over?"

A reply came back some second later. "It's an Autobot ship damaged, and crashed down not far from your current location."

Pantera cocked her head in surprise. "An Autobot ship!? Can you confirm that, Ritter?"

"Affirmative. I saw the markings on the bowjust before she grounded."

Inuarai asked, "How close to the ship are you, Ironhorse?"

"Close enough to see where it hitbut I've got some other business to deal with. Ironhorse out." With that, the link went dead.

"Blast ithim and his agendas," Pantera growled ruefully. Quickly, she tapped her comm-link again. "Stormy! You listening in, girl?"

A hiss crackled over the link, before a modulated female voice came through, "Loud and clear, Tera. What's up?"

"Ritter just told us there's a crashed ship near our present position," the jaguar explained. "Can you get a fix on it?"

"Yeah, hold on," the voice replied. After a moment, she answered, "Affirmative! One huge ship, Tera. Datatrax identify it as an old Starclave class." A low whistle sounded over the link. "They haven't had those around since forever was young!"

"We need to check it out, Stormy," Pantera said at length. "Zip over there and give us some aerial recon. We'll be there shortly on the ground. Pantera out." Closing the link, she turned to her companion. "Let's move, Nari."

#

Some distance away, not far from the smoking, burning engines, another arrival was taking in the sights of a wrecked Autobot ship

Gliding with an almost insolent grace, a large gyrfalcon with Decepticon symbols on its wings spiraled down to land on the remains of an old street sign. With a flip, he folded his wings and stared at the wrecked ship.

"Hehsome luck for those Autobots," he snorted, thinking idly about why he chose to come investigate the crash. "After all, what do I care? Just one less Autobot shipah, well. I should at least stick around for the explosion when those engines blow up."

Suddenly a red-and-black jet fighter, curiously styled like the Vehicon ships, raced down in a shallow dive, passing over the falcon before zooming towards the ship. The backwash from its engines nearly knocking the techno-organic bird from his perch.

"What are you doing just sitting around here," Stormrave asked, speaking over her comm-link to the falcon. "Let's go check this thing out!"

Flapping his pinions quickly to right himself, the falcon snarled at the fast-passing jet. "Do I look like someone that cares who survived that wreck!?" With a screech, he launched himself into the air, soaring after the former Vehicon. "It can crash on top of the Citadel for all I care!" He paused, as if considering his words. "As long as Megatron is still online for me to kill, that is"

The jet warrior shot back, "You'll never give up on getting your revenge, will you, Starscream?"

The gyrfalcon's eyes blazed. "Not likely."

###

**::Inside the ****_Iacon's Pride_**** ::**

Following the sounds, Baretta finally came to a heavy metal door. From the size of it, and the amount of security locks on it, she didn't think it was the living quarters

"Still, Maxies are bound to hide the safest part of the ship," she reasoned. Hefting her laser cannon up, she took aim at the massive doors. "Just hope there's a few left for me to offline!" with that, she took aim and fired a stream of laser pulses at the door.

The blasts ricocheted off of the dense metal, caroming around the hall like a runaway quark in an accelerator.

"Yike!" Diving for the floor, Baretta could only cover her head and watch as the blasts rocketed past, coming within a click of her chassis before bouncing off the floor. 

Eventually, the shots hit the right angle to strike a computer panel next to the door. There was a crackle of discharged energy, then a spark, followed by a ribbon of oily smoke. A moment passed, then the sounds of a heavy tumbler rolling echoed down the hall. With a gurgling hiss, the doors slid open slowly to reveal a dark space beyond.

Peering upwards, Baretta cautiously placed her hands on the floor, unsure whether to bolt or stay put. From out of the gloom, a pair of glowing red eyes blinked into being... indexing left, then right... Finally, they locked onto Baretta, cowed on the deck outside the hatch. 

Baretta said nothing.

A low, whining sound – like the powering up of a high-output dynamo – seeped out of the darkness, climbing rapidly in pitch just before a violet ray of fusion enery rocketed out from the gloom. It shot by Baretta and impacted against the far wall, blowing out a thirty-foot section of the hull in a cataphony of explosive force.

As the smoke cleared, the metallic sounds Baretta had heard before grew louder; like footsteps of something very, very BIG. A shadowy shape emerged into the light, its eyes blinking as it focused on the landscape of Cybertron just outside the jagged opening.

"At LAST!!! I...am...free...AGAIN!!! Now, Cybertron will rue the day they tried to capture HORDAX!!!"

Leaving the crimson Vehicon cowering in the aftermath, the shadow-form sprang forward, leaping through the opening and into the clear. It quickly transformed, becoming a strangely shaped jet craft, which rocketed away from the downed ship on twin columns of amber flames

leaving a still-cowering Baretta behind on the deck.

###

On the other side of the ship, Inuarai loped out of the shadows of a nearby tower, followed in the shadows by Pantera.

"Yipe! This is aa MESS!" Nose to the wind, the coyote-formed Maximal sniffed the air laboriously.

Pantera asked from her perch, "Picking up anything, Nari?" 

"Nothing right now but dust, smoke and burning circuits and materials," Inuarai replied. "I might be able to find something if we get away from that fire back there."

Nodding, Pantera focused her eyes towards the bridge area, far ahead of them to the left. "Sounds like a good idearight," she said, "you follow along the hull. I'm going to scout around here for a minute, then join you at the bow. The bridge looks like it's still intact, from what I can see."

"Gotcha, Tera," Inuarai nodded. Starting off a trot, she headed towards the side of the ship, leaving the elder Maximal to begin her search of the tail section.

Just then, Pantera's comm-link chirped. "Braddore to Panteracome in," an accented voice said sharply. "I've just received world about your scouting mission, and I'm curiouswhat did you find?"

"'Tera here, Braddore. You might not like this, Doc," she said archly, "but that rumble we felt earlier is confirmed. It's an old Autobot transport."

"Aw, crud! Damn it, guess I'm on call again," came the reply. "Please, Primus, tell me there's a medic on that ship that survived! I'm not equipped to handle the injuries we have, let alone a bunch of slagged Autobots."

Pantera chuckled. "Keep your manifold bolted on, Docwe haven't found any survivors, yet. If we do, we'll have to make do with what we can to help them. Pantera out."

###

Inside the bridge, the leader groaned as he extracted himself from where his command chair collided with a console. "Sweet Primusow," he hissed, feeling for any major injuries along his chest. "Anyone still online here?"

The pilot shook his head rapidly, shoving himself away from the control panel with a growl. "Here, PrimeI'm functional."

The two female designates – all piled up against their respective places on the bridge – also answered; "Here, Prime." "I'm okayjust, dandy!"

The leader nodded slowly. "Goodanyone catch what happened to Trak?"

"Last I heard," the navigator said slowly, rubbing a place where her forehead had banged against the overhead display, "he was on hisway up from the brig level"

At that moment, the doors to the bridge slid open. A clatter resounded as a body fell inwards from the hallway outside.

"Oh no! Trak!" The second designate levered herself upright, moving awkwardly across the deck until she reached the fallen soldier. "Prime, he was outside the arrestor field! I think he's in bad shape!"

"Well, we'll never know unless we get some more light in here," the pilot grumped.

The leader quickly rose to his feet. "Hold on, everyone! We can use the emergency hatchget out into open ground, and set up a triage!" Pushing his way across the bridge, the tall figure found a large, rectangle-shaped panel in the wall of the ship. Outlined in alternating yellow-black bands, it had the words "Escape Hatch" emblazoned on its center in red letters.

"Better hurry," the second designate chirped. "I'm not the medic, but he's gonna need serious help, and I mean now!"

Reaching out, the leader smashed his fist into an amber-colored segment next to the hatch, shattering the plas-glass like a piece of fragile crystal. Reaching inside, he found the manual release lever

#

Just at that moment, Inuarai loped into view alongside the ship, her nose snuffling and snorting as she tried to locate any sign of survivors. High above her, the darkened armor-glass panels of the bridge could be seen. 

Stopping for a moment to pant and regain her breath, the coyote picked up some faint sounds with her audio receptors. Pricking her ears up, she sniffed the air to sense if there was anything she could detect now.

"*SNORT!*," she sniffed. "Still too much smoke around here." Cocking her head, she listened again for the soundsand heard them once more: low, thumping tones of metal against denser metal. "Something is...unusual here..." She quickly keyed her comm-link. "'Tera, you still there?"

"I'm here, Nari. What's up?"

"There's something moving around up here. I can hear itlike, it's somewhere inside the ship."

Just then, the sounds grew louder. Dancing back a few steps, Inuarai looked towards a large, oblong section of the hull, where something akin to the outline of a hatch could barely be seen. 

"'Nari? What's wrong?"

Inuarai shook off the shock and replied, "Hold on, I think I foundI dunno. Hello?" She directed her words towards the ship. "Is somebody there?" Deciding not to wait for a reply, the coyote quickly stepped back another pace and intoned, "Itransformed!" Amid a flash of blue, the Maximal changed into her robot-form, standing on her canted back legs while filling her humanoid hands with energy shuriken.

Amid a new barrage of sounds – like muzzled shouting – Pantera's voice came back to her sharply, "Inuarai, wait! Don't try anything. I'm on my way there! Stormy, Screamer, if you can here me then get to my coordinates, pronto!"

Inuarai listened to Pantera's order with only half an ear. Her attention was completely focused on the outline of the hatch above her.

~This is bizarre...~ she told herself. Edging closer to the ship, all of her senses were fully alert. Absently, she spoke in an aside to her companion, "Don't worryI, just want to see what's inside"

Suddenly, the muffled sound of a klaxon sang out from inside the wreck. Before Inurai could react – whether to jump and run or anything – the outer layer of the hull plates over the outline blew outward, propelled on an explosive charge.

"YIPE!" Inuarai shielded herself with her arms, ducking as the metal plate sailed overhead. Once everything was still again, she hazarded a look at the ship again, spying the surface of an inner hatch inside the exposed section of the hull. 

BOOM! The inner hatch buckled outward, something striking it violently from the other side. Two more BOOMs, and the hatch slammed outward in two segments – one upwards and one down – banging into the side of the hull on either side of the opening... 

Shocked into a nearly dazed state, it was all the small Maximal could do but to stare at the opening and listenas the sounds of someone, or something panting could be heard from the semi-darkness within. A split click later, a pair of large hands appeared from the darkness; large, metallic hands of blue, which gripped the sides of the opening briefly...

just before two glowing eyes of blue flared brightly in between them. 

Inuarai dropped to the ground, looking upward at the lighted optics in fear, unsure of what to make of them. "T-t-t-t-Tera!?" 

A modulated voice – obviously mechanical, and definetly male – spoke out into the Cybertronian air. "Thank the Matrix!" The eyes turned away briefly, as the voice echoes back into the ship: "Alegra! Sabre! Get Halftrak and carry him clear. Rav, get to the brig and make sure our passenger didn't get free... if he has, Primus help us all."

Narrowing her eyes, Inuarai tried to get a better look at the speaker, just as the speak himself emerged

It was a tall, male Transformer. Colors of red, blue and silver adorned its chassis, which looked similar to something the smaller Maximal could vaguely recall from history. Towering over her, the mechanical paused to stare at the wreck of the ship before turning towards the area around it. It had a standardized faceplate underneath those eyes, which looked out from underneath a blue helmet assembly that looked a lot like the one Primal used to haveback when he was in charge of the Axalon.

When the Cybertronian turned back to face her again, she noticed some sort of symbol on his left shoulderand the sight of it made Inurai gasp. It was an Autobot symbol!

"Alegra, what's 'Trak's status?" The transformer looked back at the tall hulks of the surrounding buildings in awe. "What in the name of Primus...? What's happened to Cybertron?" With a snap, the Autobot's face plate retracted, revealing his true face underneath; a silvery-white affair that seemed far younger than he appeared. 

"By the Matrix," she murmured, slowly coming to her knees.

Looking down, the Transform noticed Inuarai for the first time. With widening optics, he blinked before asking, "Who are you? What has happened around here!?"

###

**To Be Continued:::**


End file.
